Kia Creates U.S. Motorsports Program, Unveils Forte Koup Race Car

Two Fortes will kick off the Korean automakers new racing program.

What a pleasant surprise. At its SEMA show press conference, Kia announced the founding of a U.S. motorsports program and revealed that two factory-backed Forte Koups will race in the Grand-Am Koni Sports Car Challenge Series beginning in the 2010 season.

The modified Forte Koups will run in the Street Tuner class against cars as varied as the Honda Civic Si, Mazda MX-5 Miata, BMW 3-series, and Porsche Boxster. Kia's race cars were developed and assembled with help from the Kinetic Group, a race shop outside of Atlanta.

The race-prepped Forte on display in Las Vegas certainly looked the part. As you’d expect, the interior has been stripped of unnecessary items and a roll cage has been installed along with a carbon-fiber instrument cluster. Carbon fiber is also sprinkled across the front, peeking out where the fog lights are on the stock car. The rest of the exterior is plastered with sponsor logos. The car also carried the name of Kia Motors America chairman and CEO Byung Mo Ahn, although we expect he’ll leave the racing to Andy Lally and Nic Jönsson, two experienced drivers who have signed on to drive the pair of Koups.

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